Thirty-five years after it topped charts across three continents, Maxi Priest’s “Close to You” just picked up its first-ever British certification. The British Phonographic Industry handed the 1990 classic a silver certification on July 4, and for Priest, the timing hit harder than most people might expect.
“WOW! I feel good. I feel blessed. I feel appreci-loved,” Priest told the Jamaica Observer. “I feel like I have been touched by many angels, and I truly give thanks for that.” He also took a moment to wish his parents and brother were still around to see it.
What makes this certification a little bittersweet is that “Close to You” was already a massive global success long before the BPI got around to recognizing it. The song hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1990, topped charts in Australia, and cracked the top 10 in Germany, Canada, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Greece, Austria, and Belgium. It had already been certified gold in America, Australia, and Sweden. The UK, where Priest was born and raised, is only now catching up.
The origin story behind the song is genuinely charming. Priest was driving across London in his jeep, top down, sun out, admiring the scene, when the hook just started coming to him. “Throughout the drive I was just admiring the beautiful ladies on the street,” he said. “In my admiration, I just started singing, ‘I just wanna be close to you,’ repeatedly, all throughout the ride.”
By the time he got to the studio in Tottenham, where he was working with Gary Benson and Winston Sela, the idea had taken full hold. “We stopped everything, shut everything off, and focused on this line,” he said. Gary pulled lyrics together for the rap section, and the core of the song was essentially done the next day.
From there, the track went to legendary Jamaican production duo Sly and Robbie, alongside Geoffrey Chung and Handel Tucker. Their reaction was immediate. “They said, ‘Yeah, this is gonna be a monster,’” Priest recalled. He described the whole crew as family, not just collaborators, which gives some context to how relaxed and natural the final recording feels.
Priest has always been clear that the song meant more to him than chart positions. “Close to You opened so many doors,” he said. For charts around the world, plaques around the world, travelling, meeting new people, and doing shows in places that I would never have dreamed I’d be able to go.” He was also quick to frame it in terms of what it meant for reggae and Caribbean music more broadly, saying the intention was always to open doors for others, not just himself.
This silver certification is the first BPI-certified single of his career, which is a strange fact given how well-known he is in Britain. Priest already holds three BPI gold-certified albums, Bonafide, Maxi, and The Best of Me, and his catalog includes collaborations with Shabba Ranks, Roberta Flack, Shaggy, and Beres Hammond. A certified single from his home country has been the one gap in that recognition.
For Priest, the moment connects back to something much older than music industry metrics. “It takes me back to when I was a young boy going through hard times and thinking, ‘There must be another way,’” he said. “It signifies that if you put your heart and soul into something you can achieve.” He grew up in Southeast London, the son of Jamaican parents, and that distance between where he started and where the song eventually landed clearly still means something to him.
With “Close to You” now certified in the UK, there’s a real question of what other catalog cuts might be next in line for formal recognition.